Watch Champions League goals 'near live' online for the first time on Twitter

Twitter first: goals and post match interviews from key Champions League clashes will be available on the social networking site

Football fans will be able to watch “near live” clips of goals from three Champions League clashes tonight in a broadcasting first on Twitter.

BSkyB has teamed up with the social networking site to show replays of up to three goals a game from the Schalke 04 v Chelsea, AC Milan v Barcelona and Celtic v Ajax matches.

The goals - as well as build up coverage and post-match interviews - will be accessible through links on the Sky Sports Twitter account. Sky is paying Twitter an undisclosed sum to promote its tweets.

Sky’s decision to share highlights for free follows the increased competition it faces this year from BT Sport and is aimed at promoting its £9.99 a day internet service Now TV.

A pilot on the Premier League’s transfer deadline day in September was a huge success generating over 570,000 clip views on Twitter, Facebook and the Sky Sport website within 12 hours. More than 6,000 clips were reshared across social networks to reach seven million users in total.

Gidon Katz, Director of NOW TV comments: “We know that lots of people want access to great Sky Sports content but would rather dip in and out rather than having a full subscription. Sharing UEFA Champions League clips in real-time on social platforms helps us to highlight the benefits of instant, pay-as-you-go access to Sky Sports via NOW TV.”

Sky will use technology developed by the Chiswick based Grabyo TV clip sharing platform.

Dave Gibbs, Director of Sky Sports Digital Media, adds: “Grabyo Studio brings simplicity and speed to clip-sharing, making sure that we are first and own the social conversation around TV highlights as well as maximising the impact and reach of the promo clips we share.”

Grabyo founder Will Nealesaid: “This is an exciting time for broadcasting and we’re delighted to be right at the epicentre of industry innovation. We’re confident that by focusing on building an end-to-end service focused on speed and simplicity, Grabyo will become the platform of choice for TV clip-sharing.”

Twitter launched its first partnership with a TV network last year when it teamed up with US sports channel ESPN.